Improvement in machines for mincing whale-blubber



K gw@ /ZM V N. PETERS. PHON-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. SOWLE AND WILLIAM GARSLEY, OF NEW BEDFORD, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR MINCING WHALE-BLUBBER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 3,290, dated October 6, 1843.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. SowLE and WILLIAM OARsLEY, both of New Bedford, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for Mincin g Whale and Seal Blubber and other animal matter; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The nature of our invention consists in so connecting a knife with a wheel and axle as that by turning a crank the blubber or other matter shall be cnt into uniform slices of convenient thickness to be dried or boiled out in the kettle.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will -procecd to describe its construction and operation.

Upon a convenient frame we mount a shaft, bearing near one of its ends a wheel, as shown at A in the drawing` annexed. Upon the other extremity we attach a crank, B, connected with the middle of a frame-back, which holds the knife C. To each end of this frameback is attached by one end a crank of the same length as that shown at B, and in the drawing herewith marked D. The other end of each crank is connected with the supports E. To the shaft is also attached an elliptical wheel or cam, marked F, carrying a claw which locks into the cog-wheel G. This wheel forms one end of a cylinder, constituting one of a series, over which runs an endless band of leather or other suitable material. A dog or ratchet, marked H, interlocks with the cogwheel aforesaid, opposite to the claw, and pre- Vents the cylinder from revolving in a contrary or backward direction.

To pnt the machine in operation we lay a piece of blubber of proper size upon the leather band, where it is held fast by metallic points or teeth,with which the band is armed, and set the principal crank in motion, causing the knife to pass through and across the blubber with a drawing stroke, and cutting a thin slice nearly oft'. By the same motion the cam operates upon the claw, which grasps a tooth of the cog-wheel G and causes the cylinder, to which it is attached, to revolve, drawing the band, with the blubber upon it, a convenient distance onward, in order to recei\'e another stroke of the knife. l

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The method herein described of arranging the knife O-that is to say, attaching the knife directly to the crank and supporting its ends by means of the two jointed arms or cranks D D.

.GEORGE W. SOWLE. WILLIAM OARSLEY. Witnesses:

WM. H. TAYLOR, ABM. Woon. 

